Povidone-iodine prophylaxis of ophthalmia neonatorum
It is important to recognise that defining ophthalmia neonatorum in a large group of African newborns is problematic
Ophthalmologists practising in the developed world at the beginning of the 21st century may be surprised to learn that visual loss from ophthalmia neonatorum was once a major public health problem. In England in the mid-1800s, there was a hospital devoted solely to the lavage of infants with gonococcal ophthalmia. Fortunately, the work of Crede, who developed prophylaxis with 2% silver nitrate in 1881, nearly eliminated visual loss from this disease in the West.1 Unfortunately, conjunctivitis in the first month of life remains a common threat to vision in …
